Families despair over displaced remains at Park Cemetery

By Daniel Tepfer

Updated
9:16 pm EDT, Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Headstones that have been toppled and moved in Park Cemetery, in Bridgeport, Conn. Oct. 2, 2018. It is believed that some older graves and grave markers in the cemetery have been moved in effort to make way for newer burials.

Headstones that have been toppled and moved in Park Cemetery, in Bridgeport, Conn. Oct. 2, 2018. It is believed that some older graves and grave markers in the cemetery have been moved in effort to make way for

Headstones that have been toppled and moved in Park Cemetery, in Bridgeport, Conn. Oct. 2, 2018. It is believed that some older graves and grave markers in the cemetery have been moved in effort to make way for newer burials.

Headstones that have been toppled and moved in Park Cemetery, in Bridgeport, Conn. Oct. 2, 2018. It is believed that some older graves and grave markers in the cemetery have been moved in effort to make way for

“My grandfather is supposed to be buried here,” the Shelton woman cried. “But now I don’t know where he is.”

A small stone at the head of the grave has the name of the World War II veteran Richard Bouchard, who died in 1979. But right in front of Bouchard’s stone is a marker and a photo of Lucila Torres, who appears to have been buried in the same spot just two weeks ago.

Like Stott, dozens of people from all over the state descended on the Lindley Street cemetery Wednesday, following publication of a story by Hearst Connecticut Media about human bone fragments and broken casket parts found by police around the cemetery — evidence, they said, that older graves were moved to make room for new ones.

People raced to the final resting places of loved ones, some whooping for joy on finding graves intact, others wandering around in a daze, or like Stott, sobbing on finding someone else apparently buried in their family’s plot.

Sandy Franklin, of Bethel, who has relatives spanning a number of generations buried in the cemetery, pointed out places where two stones from unrelated people had been placed together on plots, while other stones had just been turned over, hiding the inscriptions.

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The only pristine stone appeared to belong to cemetery manager Dale LaPrade, and was inscribed with her name and a birth date. LaPrade is alive, but she was not around on Thursday.

Heartbroken relatives

Bridgeport Police Chief Armando Perez said the situation at the cemetery was “disheartening,” but likely not criminal.

“It appears she (LaPrade) is an older person who is running the cemetery and perhaps doesn’t have the skills necessary to do so but it does not appear that it rises to criminal activity and an arrest,” the chief said after reviewing the results of an investigation by his detectives.

Cheryl Jansen, formerly of Shelton who has four generations of her family buried in the 140-year-old Lindley Street cemetery, said she is disappointed with the chief’s explanation, but not surprised.

“There are no real penalties for what (LaPrade) did, and I think that’s what the police found out,” Jansen said.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Consumer Protection said it has received no complaints regarding Park Cemetery and referred a reporter to the state Department of Public Health, which licenses cemeteries. That department did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Jansen, who now lives in Florida, filed a lawsuit against LaPrade seeking to have her fired and replaced with another manager. A Superior Court judge is considering her request.

During a hearing in court on Tuesday, police detectives Jorge Cintron and Kimberly Biehn told Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Stewart that dozens of headstones, some dating to the 1800s, had been moved at Park Cemetery so the newly dead could be buried in plots stacked on old graves.

“New dirt was put over older graves and new graves were put there,” Biehn testified.

“There was fresh soil over old head stones and they were in the process of building an access road through the stones,” Cintron testified. “In the woods we found old headstones and human bones that had just been thrown around.”

Cintron said a grave digger told him he had been ordered by LaPrade to throw old bones and caskets away to make room for new graves.

“It’s disheartening at best,” Perez said.

Money troubles

Several area funeral homes still do business with Park Cemetery, even though a cemetery historian testified at the hearing that most of the cemetery was already fully occupied years ago.

The George Peterson Funeral home has a burial scheduled there on Friday.

“We have never had any issues with the cemetery,” said funeral director Leslie Vincent.

“I use the cemetery a lot,” said Andre Baker Jr., director of the Baker-Isaac Funeral Home. “I’ve dealt with her (LaPrade), she has always been polite and forthcoming in making arrangements with us and our families. I’ve never experienced any problems, nothing unusual.”

David Larson, director of Larson Funeral Home, said he used Park Cemetery in the past.

“I’m familiar with Dale and have not had any problems, but it’s obvious the conditions at the cemetery have deteriorated over the years,” said Larson. “I always just assumed it was because of a lack of funding.”

Jansen said the cemetery is owned by an association made up of the families who have loved ones buried there. She believes that LaPrade and her husband started as employees of the cemetery more than 10 years ago and slipped into the role of managers after a vacancy. LaPrade’s husband no longer works there because of health issues.

Court records show the LaPrades are being sued for more than $9,000 owed a company for trash pickup at the cemetery. The couple lost their Stratford home to foreclosure last year. LaPrade did not return calls for comment.

Dale LaPrade, although issued a subpoena, did not appear for the court hearing.

“She had had multiple opportunities to come to court and tell her story and she didn’t do it,” Jansen said. “She is old and has some disabilities, and my goal is just to get rid of her and get someone in there who can run it right.

“Who would have thought you would have to worry about your loved ones after they are gone?” Jansen said. “It’s like going through their deaths all over again.”